In the 2025 Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League’s season-defining stretch, Discovery Rizal star forward Tantoy Ferrer had a clear reason to stay on the bench.
The Gilas Women 3×3 member admitted she was still recovering from the illness that forced her to miss Discovery Rizal’s 58-63 loss to San Juan-DN Steel on September 21 — a defeat that snapped Perlas’ five-game winning streak and dented their bid for an outright semifinals berth.
Against a struggling RK Hoops-Quezon City side, Ferrer could have easily entrusted Raiza Palmera-Dy, Allana Lim, and Tacky Tacatac to carry the load and keep Discovery Rizal’s top-two finish hopes alive.
But sitting out was never an option for the University of Santo Tomas product.
Eager to steady her squad ahead of the quarterfinals and make up for lost time, Ferrer unleashed a dominant double-double to power Perlas’ 82-46 victory over RK Hoops-Quezon City on Sunday evening at the Batangas City Coliseum.
She tallied 16 points, 20 rebounds, five steals, four assists, and two blocks.
“Nahirapan yung team dahil hindi kami nakumpleto against sa No. 1 team ng liga, yung San Juan. Hindi kami kumpleto dahil may sakit ako during that game, hindi ko talaga kaya makalaro. Kahit medyo may masama pang pakiramdam, bumalik ako and syempre, kailangan ako ng team,” Ferrer said.
(C) WMPBL
With the quarterfinals looming, Ferrer knew she could not leave her teammates hanging.
Acknowledging RK Hoops-Quezon City’s potential to spring an upset, the Zambales native pushed through her lingering illness and answered head coach Derrick Pumaren’s call, determined to provide Discovery Rizal with her veteran presence and individual brilliance.
“Hindi ko sila pwede iwan sa kalagitnaan ng games and papasok na rin ng quarterfinals ‘eh. Hindi namin pwede i-underestimate na yung Quezon City na kalaban kasi bilog yung bola at pwede sila manalo. Nag-show up ako rito at naglaro para sa team kaya kami nanalo,” Ferrer shared.
With Pumaren polishing Perlas’ chemistry and fine-tuning their system, Ferrer stressed that the team must focus on cutting down turnovers heading into a pivotal clash against New Zealand Bluefire-Batangas on Saturday, October 4 at Enderun.
“Yung chemistry nandoon naman na at yung laro namin as a team at nakukuha na namin yung sistema ni coach. Siguro yung kailangan lang namin i-improve as a team and individually ay yung chemistry pa sa court and i-less pa yung turnovers,” she said.
“Yung turnovers kasi doon nakakakuha ng maraming points yung kalaban ‘eh at doon sila nakaka-execute. Kailangan namin i-minimize pa para maganda yung laro namin. Sure ako na hindi ganoon kadikit yung laban namin sa next game pag kumonti turnovers namin.”
